Abstract
A standard method to test the aquatic toxicity of biologically active household chemicals (BAHC), including those with very low water solubility, is proposed. The method uses the common marine models Paracentrotus lividus embryos and Acartia clausi larvae, in order to advance towards derivation of water quality criteria for these emerging pollutants that currently lack environmental standards. Depending on the water solubility and octanol–water partition coefficient (Kow) of the substance, the protocol consists of testing the toxicity of the substances by serial dilutions of water stocks, dimethyl-sulfoxide stocks, or 100 mg/L lixiviates in seawater. When this method is applied to eleven model BAHC, the pharmaceutical fluoxetine, the antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene, and the UV filters broadly present in cosmetics octocrylene and 4-methylbenzylidene camphor, are classified as very toxic to aquatic life, since their EC50 values are < 1 mg/L. In general, both biological models, P. lividus and A. clausi, yield the same classification of the substances tested, but variations in the classification of aquatic toxicity depending on methodological aspects are discussed. The use of A. clausi nauplii provides more protecting value to the toxicity parameters obtained by using this protocol.Graphic abstract
Highlights
An increasing amount of synthetic chemicals are used to manufacture everyday items such as plastics, textiles, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, and for many of them, adverse biological effects on aquatic organisms have been reported [reviewed by Hahladakis et al (2018) for plastic additives, Samchetshabam et al (2017) for textiles, Beiras (2021) for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals]
The aim of this study was to advance the standardization of methods intended to the classification of aquatic toxicity of biologically active household chemicals (BAHC), and to illustrate these methods with representative BAHC present in plastics, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetic products
The A. clausi test yielded a slightly different ranking, with toxicity decreasing in the order OCT (EC10 = 13 μg/L, 95% confidence interval not calculable, n.c.), FLU (EC10 = 34 μg/L, n.c.), 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4-MBC) (EC10 = 39 μg/L, 4–76), BHT (EC10 = 78 μg/L. 8–117), TDCP (EC10 = 126), and LAW (EC10 = 1909 μg/L, n.c.)
Summary
An increasing amount of synthetic chemicals are used to manufacture everyday items such as plastics, textiles, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, and for many of them, adverse biological effects on aquatic organisms have been reported [reviewed by Hahladakis et al (2018) for plastic additives, Samchetshabam et al (2017) for textiles, Beiras (2021) for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals]. These biologically active household chemicals (BAHC) reach surface waters through urban wastewater effluents and improper environmental disposal. Toxicity on planktonic marine organisms of some plastic functional additives and cosmetic components at μg/L levels have been previously reported (Giraldo et al, 2017; Paredes et al, 2014; Tato et al, 2018)
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